My goal for 2014 is to improve my swimming and biking, and complete the Double Mussel and REV3 Poconos 70.3 races. I'm in the process of moving from Rochester to Albany, and am looking forward to making some new friends!

Today was a far different story. Accuweather had a giant heat advisory for the entire day. The started us out early, at 6:30 (which put my wake-up call at 4:45), and even then the humidity was around 90 percent.

I've never done well in the heat. Thanks to the MIT coaches, though, I was prepared for today. They sent us emails all week about dealing with the humidity. Here are some of the things I did:

Drank lots and lots and lots of water yesterday and this morning

Brought extra nutrition (for 12 miles I used a Gu and a pack of Sport beans)

I've been eating bananas all week

Extra carbs and salt yesterday

I made sure to stand outside to get acclimated before running

Wore my monitor and kept an eye on my heart rate the entire time

Dumped cups of water on myself at the water stops.

I survived! The first two miles were the toughest (and also uphill), but then I settled in on the shady trail. I've been struggling with shin splits lately, they hurt the first two but then eased off. After I changed I wrung my clothes out in the sink! Grossness!

This was one of those days I definitely couldn't have survived without MIT and the 10:30 pace team. I know 12 miles was where I broke down trying to run on my own so for some reason I always get nervous before this run.

(Why is this in a different font. Arg. Whatever, it's nap time, I'll fix it later.)